Having completed the last Mass for the Holy Souls in the sequence of nine on Thursday, Mass was offered on Friday in thanksgiving, on behalf of R. M. C. It was the feast day on Friday of Saint Thomas, as I mentioned; this Apostle is a significant presence in the church, because of the statue we have of him at the back and the large community of Keralites we have in our congregation and at our school.
The gospel story we had at Mass was, of course, the famous one after the Resurrection, when Thomas missed the first appearance of Christ to the Apostles and declared that he would not believe their story until he had seen the living Christ and given himself proofs of his being of real flesh and blood, and not a ghost. Over the centuries, much light has been made of Thomas' desire to have the undeniable certainty of his own senses. For example, in Saint Thomas Aquinas' famous hymn Adoro te devote, he says:
"I am not like Thomas, wounds I cannot see,but can plainly call Thee Lord and God as he;let me to a deeper faith daily nearer move,daily make me harder hope and dearer love."
- translated [source]
But Thomas did the rest of us, living further and further away in time from the event, a great boon in two ways. For one, he brought us this particular story, included for us by the Apostle Saint John in his Gospel. And for another, he drew down a particular blessing for all of us from the very Mouth of Christ:
"And Jesus said to him, 'Thou hast learned to believe, Thomas, because thou hast seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have learned to believe.'"- Gospel of S. John, 20: 29
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